Monday, July 31, 2017

“There were double digits of names — more than 10 — on that list, where we (MLB and the Players Association) knew that there were legitimate scientific questions about whether or not those were truly positives.”

Per the Mitchell Report, 13 of the positives were disputed by the Players Association.

“If in fact there were test results like that today on a player, and we tried to discipline them, there’d be a grievance over it (filed by the union),” Manfred said. “It would be vetted, tried, resolved, OK? We didn’t do that. Those issues and ambiguities were never resolved because we knew they didn’t matter. We knew we had enough positives that everyone agreed on that we knew we were going to trigger the testing the following year.

“Even if Rob Manfred’s name was on that list, he might have been one of those 10 or 15 where there was probably, or at least possibly, a very legitimate explanation that did not involve the use of a banned substance.”

Saturday, July 01, 2017

David Paulino, who represented rotation depth for the Astros and is also regarded as one of their best prospects, was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball on Saturday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
Paulino will not appeal his suspension, which spells the end of his season. The 23-year-old Dominican righthander won’t be eligible to be included on a postseason roster. He tested positive for Boldenone, a substance in violation of MLB’s drug prevention and treatment program. The ban was effective Saturday.
Paulino had a 6.52 ERA in six starts with the Astros, whose rotation has been decimated by injuries. They will need a new starter for Wednesday’s game in Atlanta. It’s likely to be Joe Musgrove, who was optioned to Class AAA last weekend after his ERA inflated to 6.01.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Major League Baseball announced on Thursday evening that Dodgers minor league pitcher Jair Jurrjens has been suspended 80 games after testing positive for exogenous Testosterone.

Jurrjens, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers at the end of March after pitching for Team Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. At Triple-A Oklahoma City, the right-hander compiled a 4.64 ERA with a 44/18 K/BB ratio in 54 1/3 innings.